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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25252324">Absent Noise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stand Still Stay Silent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Apocalypse, Canon-Typical Death, Gen, Prologue, Triple Drabble, Year 0</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:15:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>300</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25252324</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The world as they knew it is fading. Or perhaps it's already lost.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Multifandom Drabble 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Absent Noise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuuago/gifts">yuuago</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All that reaches them through the radio now is the sound of static. Eino wants to think the lines have been lost but believes Tuuli who, too serious, says the broadcasters must be dead. Trying to joke, Kaino suggests the silence is news enough. That is also true, but nobody laughs.</p><p>The first time they’d returned to harbor, they’d seen sick people tossing corpses into sea. Now, Eino drops anchor as far from land as he can. He brings the binoculars to his eyes; in less than a minute, he flings them down, too. When Veeti, clinging to his wrinkled jeans, asks what he’s seen, Eino opens his mouth just to close it without words.</p><p>Open, close. Open. Like a fish. Like the countless fish littered across the crimson water by the harbor, belly up with their eyes starting to rot, surrounded by the same corpses they’d first tried to chew. This time, there had been living bodies – decaying masses of rash-licked skin and slipping minds – drowning themselves as well. Eino does not dwell on that.</p><p>“Let’s turn about,” he murmurs, stroking Veeti’s hair with a sweaty hand. “Video games, go along now.”</p><p>Veeti sticks out his chin; whimpers, digging fingers into Eino’s thigh until he winces. “I want to go home, Dad,” he cries, and the denim is becoming wet. Uncomfortably cold.  </p><p>“We’ll come back. We’ll check again. Soon. It’ll be okay,” Eino says. Except he’s trying to reassure himself just as much as he’s trying to reassure his son. He can’t trust his own words, and knows that Veeti doesn’t, either.</p><p>At his side, Aino pats his arm. It’s pointless since she’s also sobbing, made sensitive with new motherhood. But Ensi, clutched to her breast, stays silent. And for the briefest moment, Eino is frightened by this, too.</p>
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